Tagblatt Medien feel structural change - profit declines
Tagblatt Medien felt the effects of structural change in the media industry and declining advertising revenues in the 2017 financial year. Operating profit fell by around a third year-on-year to CHF 5.2 million
Group profit also fell by around 30 percent to 4.6 million francs, the company announced on Monday. Sales amounted to 114.2 million Swiss francs. This is around 7 million more than the previous year, mainly thanks to the integration of NZZ Fachmedien AG. Revenues from the advertising market in print, as well as radio and TV, had declined sharply due to changes in the industry, it said.
On the cost side, the integration of NZZ Fachmedien led to additional expenses. This was partially offset by cost-cutting measures and synergies with Luzerner LZ Medien. Operating expenses increased by just under 10 percent. The company was only able to partially compensate for the loss of sales from the advertising market. Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to 5.2 million Swiss francs, 2.5 million less than in 2016. The EBIT margin fell from 7.1 to 4.5 percent.
Less dividend
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that an ordinary dividend of 75 Swiss francs (previous year: 80 Swiss francs) per share be paid. In addition, thanks to the high liquidity available, a special dividend of 25 Swiss francs (previous year: 80 Swiss francs) is to be distributed.
Already at the end of 2017, the NZZ Group, to which Tagblatt Medien belongs, announced the formation of a regional media joint venture with AZ Medien. Approval by the Competition Commission is still pending. The new media company will continue to focus on its local and regional roots, it says. To implement the joint venture, the NZZ Media Group intends to merge the two existing NZZ regional media units, Tagblatt Medien Holding and LZ Medien Holding.
At the publishing and management level, the two companies have already gradually implemented cooperation since 2014. Tagblatt Medien includes, in addition to the St. Galler Tagblatt and its regional editions, the private stations Radio FM1 and Tele Ostschweiz (TVO) as well as the websites Ostjob.ch and Osthome.ch. (SDA/hae)
